Warping and holding winch for ships



1969 H. HERCHENRODER 6 WARPING AND HOLDING WINCH FOR SHIPS Filed Nov. '7, 1967 5/ 550 n (WINDING) OF THE CONVER TER TAKE-OFF TORQ UE SPEED n (umwiwoms) Inventor.- HANS HERCHENRD'DER ATTYS.

United States Patent US. Cl. 254-172 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A warping and holding winch for ships having adjustable, substantially constant rope traction during the holding operation comprises an adjustable hydrodynamic torque converter to transmit the rotational movement from a drive motor to the winch drum.

Background of the invention This invention relates to a warping and holding winch for ships having adjustable, substantially constant rope traction during the holding operation.

Warping and holding winches are intended to prevent overloading and slackening of the hawser during the holding operation on account of high and low tide, wind, loading and unloading of the ship, etc. The variation in the rope traction should be kept as small as possible.

It is well-known that warping and holding winches with a steam drive or hydraulic drive may have a device for measuring the rope traction or the torque of the winch drum and that a control member for the drive means may be influenced by means of suitable transmission elements so that if the load is excessive rope is unwound and if it is too small rope is wound on.

Electrically operated winches have substantially similar measuring devices and transmission elements, but the rope traction is generally adjusted by switching the electric motor on briefly in order to wind or unwind rope.

Some known forms of these constant-traction systems are complicated and therefore expensive and liable to breakdown.

Summary of the invention The object of the invention is to provide a warping and holding winch for ships having adjustable, substantially constant rope traction during the holding operation, without the measuring, transmission and control members previously used.

To attain this object, the present invention provides a warping and holding winch for ships having adjustable, substantially constant rope traction during the holding operation, comprising an adjustable hydrodynamic torque converter to transmit the rotational movement from a drive motor to a winch drum.

The adjustable hydrodynamic torque converter is a welltried, mass-produced unit whose various forms may be assumed to be known.

The holding winch equipped with an adjustable hydrodynamic torque converter in accordance with the invention is such that when a take-oflf torque set in the converter by a suitable blade position is exceeded rope is unwound and below this torque rope is wound on. The traction in the rope therefore remains substantially constant regardless of high and low tide, wind and variations in the loading of the ship. The additional measuring, transmission and control members usual in the known winches are not required. The winch is simple in construction, cheap to produce and extremely robust in use.

According to a further feature of the present invention, a mechanical change-over gearing may be provided on the input side or on the output side of the torque converter. The advantage of such an arrangement is that during a "ice holding operation and when the larger reduction ratio is selected a smaller take-off torque is required from the torque converter to maintain a given rope traction. The power consumption of the torque converter and the amount of heat due to energy losses which must be dissipated are therefore reduced.

The same effect may be obtained by reducing the power consumption of the torque converter during the holding operation by means of a change-pole motor.

Use of an electrically operated warping and holding winch on the deck of a tanker is inadvisable because of the risk of an explosion caused by the electric motor and switchgear. This risk may be avoided in accordance with the invention if the electric drive motor is set up separately from the winch in a place where there is no risk of explosion, and energy is transmitted from the motor to the winch by means of a hydraulic pump, tubes and a hydraulic motor.

The invention may be used for warping and holding winches as well as for towing winches and the like.

Brief description of the drawing FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the construction of a ships warping and holding winch embodying the present invention, and

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the curve for a torque converter.

Description of the preferred embodiment A housing 10 contains an electric drive motor 11 driving a torque converter 12. The torque converter is followed by a reversing gearing 13 allowing a change of movement. The power take-off shaft 14 for the reversing gearing 13 carries a slide unit 15 adapted to engage a gear-wheel 16 or 17 according to its position. The changeover gearing formed by the Wheels 15, 16, 17 serves to reduce the required take-off torque of the converter 12 during a holding operation of the winch so that the power consumption of the converter and the heat due to energy losses which must be dissipated are minimal.

The Winch drum 21 is operated by way of a pair of wheels 18, 19 and a shaft 20. The energy-loss heat is dissipated from the torque converter 12 during the holding operation by means of a cooler 22, which is connected to the converter by tubes 23, 24 and is ventilated by a fan 25.

The torque converter curve in FIG. 2 shows the dependence of the take-off torque on the take-01f speed for a constant driving speed and for a given blade position.

The point of intersection A of the curve with the ordinate indicates the take-0E torque of the converter when at a standstill. If this torque is exceeded, the rope is unwound, and below this torque the rope is wound on.

The difference in traction during winding and unwinding of the rope results from the efiiciency of the gearing following the torque converter and from the direction of the energy flow which is opposite in the two cases. This difference may be kept as low as is actually required by the work to be done.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed is:

1. A winch for Warping and holding a ship, said winch providing an adjustable, substantially constant rope traction comprising:

(a) a winch drum having a shaft for controlling rotation of the drum,

(b) means coupling an unbraked, reversible take-off shaft of an adjustable hydrodynamic torque converter to the winch (1mm shaft, said converter having an input and output side, and

(c) drive means connected to said converter to actuate said converter to control said winch drum shaft and provide said adjustable, substantially constant rope traction by winding and unwinding the winch drum under predetermined conditions.

2. A winch as defined in claim 1 wherein:

said coupling means includes a mechanical gearing means located on the input side of said converter between said drive means and said converter.

3. A winch as defined in claim 1 wherein:

said coupling means include a mechanical gearing means located on the output side of the converter to control the winch drum shaft.

4. A winch as defined in claim 1 wherein:

said drive means include an electric motor.

5. A winch as defined in claim 4 wherein:

said coupling means include a mechanical gearing means located on the output side of the converter to control the winch drum shaft.

6. A winch as defined in claim 5 wherein:.

said drive means includes a hydraulic motor connected to said converter means to drive said hydraulic motor with said electric motor,

said pump drive means including a hydraulic pump and tubes interposed between said electric motor and hydraulic pump.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS ARTHUR T. MCKEON, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

